At least 86 people have died in central Nigeria after violent clashes broke out between farmers and cattle herders, police in Plateau state said.

Some reports say fighting began on Thursday when ethnic Berom farmers attacked Fulani herders, killing five of them.

A retaliatory attack on Saturday led to more deaths.

The area has a decades-long history of violence between ethnic groups competing for land.

A curfew has now been imposed in three parts of the state.

State police commissioner Undie Adie said a search of villages following the bloodshed revealed that 86 people had been killed, and six injured.

He said 50 houses had been burned, as well as 15 motorbikes and two vehicles.

The Plateau state government said the curfew would be in place between 18:00 and 06:00 local time (17:00 to 05:00 GMT) in the Riyom, Barikin Ladi and Jos South areas "to avert a breakdown of law and order".

It's an age-old conflict that has recently taken on a new level of brutality.

In Nigeria's central region settled farming communities and nomadic cattle herders often clash - usually over access to land and grazing rights.

But these tit-for-tat clashes have erupted into inter-communal warfare, killing thousands in the last year.

Source: bbc.com

BDST: 1240 HRS, JUN 25, 2018
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